About 65 million phone lines are at risk of disconnection after telecom operators refused to grant subscribers an extension to the National Identification Number (NIN) -Subscriber Identity Module (SIIM) linkage deadline.

The final deadline expired on September 14, 2024, and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the telecom regulator, expected that no SIM card would remain active without a verified NIN from September 15.

The Punch suggested that approximately 65 million lines remain at risk, as an estimated one million lines could not have been linked between the NCC’s deadline announcement and the actual cut-off date.

The telecom regulator’s data from March 2024 shows there were 219 million active lines across major networks such as MTN, Glo, Airtel, and 9mobile, with 153 million linked to NINs.

This means that about 66 million lines were unlinked to NIN after the NCC’s deadline announcement.

Meanwhile, , Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), discarded the idea of a deadline extension and confirmed to The PUNCH on Monday that the disconnection process is already ongoing.

“It’s difficult to provide exact numbers for the lines disconnected so far, but it’s certainly less than 66 million because, even on the day of the deadline, people were still linking their SIMs,” Adebayo said.

He affirmed that mobile operators were adhering to the NCC’s directives, describing the deadline as “acceptable and reasonable.”

Adebayo urged subscribers to comply, stating, “We can’t keep extending deadlines and going back and forth on this issue. This is a national concern, and these data are critical for national development.”

However, the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers urged the NCC to extend the deadline.

Speaking with The PUNCH, the President of the association appealed to the NCC to push the deadline to September 22, allowing customer experience centres to operate over the weekend.

He said this would enable subscribers to resolve any registration issues on the NIN portal and avoid potential disruptions to telecom services.

“Given the NIN portal’s technical glitches that persisted for almost a week earlier, and the improvements made last week, it’s only fair that the NCC allows subscribers to make up for the lost time. This extension will provide a much-needed buffer for subscribers to resolve any registration issues,” he said.

Barely two weeks ago, Adeolu Ogungbanjo, president of the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), expressed worry that there were challenges in linking NIN to SIM cards, with many subscribers expressing frustration over slow speeds and congestion on the NIMC portal.

Ogunbanjo emphasised that the current portal issues hinder the successful completion of the NIN-SIM linkage before the deadline, stating, “The current situation will not meet the deadline if not addressed urgently.”

Between July 28 and 29, millions of lines were temporarily barred due to unverified NINs, causing widespread disruptions in the country. The NCC had reversed its decision, giving subscribers more time to comply. However, with the deadline now expired, disconnections will commence.

Before the deadline elapsed, an NCC official, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to comment on the matter, dismissed any possibility of an extension.

“We will disconnect anyone who refuses to comply; the grace period is over. The reason why we extended the last time was the misconception of Nigerians who claimed that the NCC wanted to frustrate the August 1 protest.”

In March, the NIMC and the NCC formed a strategic collaboration in a move at enhancing processes related to the NIN-SIM linkage.

According to their first-half 2024 financial results, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa collectively barred 13.5 million lines due to non-compliance with the NIN-SIM linkage directive.

MTN Nigeria reported blocking 8.6 million lines, while Airtel Africa stated that 4.8 million lines remained unverified, contrary to earlier reports of 8.7 million completed verifications.

The compulsory NIN-SIM linkage, initiated in December 2020, aimed to curb unregistered SIMs and those without NIN links. Following multiple deadline extensions by the NCC since December 2023, April 15, 2024, was set as the final deadline for fully barring subscribers with four or fewer SIMs having unverified NIN details.